McAdams Foods owner: 'Why would I jeopardise €75,000?'

The owner of the Co Monaghan meat company at the centre of the horsemeat controversy has said he had no idea there was any possibility that its products were contaminated by horsemeat.

Martin McAdam of McAdams Foods said he never would have invested so much money in the importation of the meat product from Poland if he had any concerns about it.

The company was identified last night as the source of the contaminated meat products. It has been reported that gardaí have seized a number of items including laptops and other electronic material from the home of Mr McAdam.

Speaking on Shannonside Northern Sound this morning, Martin McAdam said he had no inkling that he could be involved in the controversy.

"Why would I jeopardise €75,000 that I would pay before I'd even lift the load of beef in Poland? That's a huge amount of money to risk," he said.

"If I had an inkling that they were putting in even a little bit of horsemeat -or anything at all - I would have pulled out straight away and never dealt with them again."